kurimanzutto - all or nothing at muac l mexico city

all or nothing at muac l mexico city

Curated by Patricia Sloane and Jorge Reynoso
Participating Artists: Gabriel Orozco and Miguel Calderón
March 27 – July 25
Group show

Among the guiding policies for the construction of the muac’s exhibition program is the organization of an annual show devoted entirely to the Museum’s holdings, in addition to promoting the presence of works from the collections within the specific thematic exhibitions of the curatorial cycles. This exhibition brings together works from the muac’s collections, along with works from its associated collections Charpenel-Guadalajara and Grupo Corpus. It forms part of the MUAC’s curatorial cycle Facts and Delusions: medium, matter, labor.

Artist-matter-labor-space-concept
All to Nothing seeks to present some of the practices still emerging in contemporary artistic production, specifically those which—as of the start of the 20th-century—have altered the notions of object and concept, personal labor and pre-fabrication, individual effort and delegation of labor.
The starting point of this selection refers to the principles that gave birth to the beginnings of modern art in the mid-19th-century, by underlining the pre-eminence of individual physical effort and manual labor as the hallmark and evidence of the triumph of liberty in the context of industrialization. All to Nothing is an exercise meant to emphasize both the transformation and dislocations of artistic practice since the schism provoked a century ago by Marcel Duchamp, who enhanced art’s possibilities by privileging the values of concept, process and exhibition: ”it is those who look, who make the art” (M. Duchamp).

The majority of the selection brings together works that reveal new interpretations of existing materials and objects through interventions that alter the context and involve the spectator in a new experience and perception of reality. In this sense, the grouping of works seeks to demonstrate the many ways in which art participates in the social machine, after its liberation from the weight of representation, by assigning the artist the role of creator of a unique language, as well as the independent producer of his or her own imaginary.

Gabriel Orozco, The weight of the sun, 2003.

From a formal perspective, All to Nothing also conveys certain premises regarding the ways in which the artwork participates in a specific situation and context. The installation proposes the transition from works with a maximum density of materials, to those with a minimal and almost ethereal quality. It also emphasizes the different ways in which the art occupies space and interacts with its surroundings. In these processes, materials and concepts are the shifts that inspired the reflection on the aesthetic value of each piece, as well as confirming its undeniable value within the scope of the collections.

*Information taken from the press release

more of 2011
	Dr. Lakra Dr. Lakra Museo de la Ciudad de México diciembre 6, 2011 - febrero 9, 2012
	Animism. Modernity through the Looking Glass Jimmie Durham, Generali Foundation
	The Global Contemporary Minerva Cuevas: The Global Contemporary